I wasn’t an active member in AF and was mostly a passive reader (due mostly to long working hours) and i think it won’t be fair if i don’t add my 2 cents here before i leave. I hope my testimony will help you for your level 3 prep especially for retakers and professionals with small free time available.
I was a band 9 last year and retaker who finally passed this year. I was quite furious last year during this same period as i put in heavy hours to get those 3 letters and failed. After a few weeks though, i decided to give it a chance again despite being both physically and mentally exhausted (was doing FRM too). Last year i mostly relied on my same old way of studying like on level 1 and 2 using study books. I failed as I spent too much time reading the materials and not enough on the actual CFA materials and failed despite feeling quite prepared for the AM. Another mistake was to not spend enough time on Ethics and GIPS and PM overall.
This year my professional workload increased and i didn’t have the envy to put my head again into study books and decided to rely mostly on videos and active exercises as I thought i already had a good grasp on the general L3 curriculum. I chose IFT and it worked well for me.
My study process was the following:
Make a planning and plan to finish study at least 5 weeks before exam day (steps 1 to 4)
Print the slides corresponding to each video lecture and listen to them actively taking note on them at 1.5x speed (usually my evening task)
Do all the blue boxes, EOCs, CFAI online quiz, IFT quiz and past AM mocks corresponding to the study session (usually during the morning) + note all the questions you failed
Listen to the videos during commute, lunch breaks…
Do again all the failed questions.
Listen to the IFT summary videos, do all previous year mocks and follow IFT video feedbacks + all failed questions
Other:
Do not overspend time on the quantitative parts and allocate enough on Ethics / GIPS and everything qualitative
Do not try to simply memorize past mocks. it won’t work
PM is key. Don’t think you aced AM you will be disappointed. Don’t think you will be able to guess the answer in PM among 3 choices you won’t. You must rely on PM to catch back on your AM performance which means CFAI online quiz are gold
Don’t be lazy: Write and work actively
Workout
I am not affiliated to IFT and as you can see my program was very focused on CFAI materials. Maybe this method can be adapted to other providers but I must say i was very satisfied with IFT. The 3 sets of videos: full + summary + mocks was gold. For previous levels I used to study with Schweser and Wiley and it worked well too for L1 and L2. This year i simply needed to get some “fresh air” to be mentally able to keep up.
Thanks Tony. I have just got band 9 fail for L3 having passed L1 and L2 first time. I’m gutted - I gave it my absolute all and have a husband and 2 kids that I have neglected ofr 6 months. How long was your prep time for second attempt versus first? I’m trying to weigh up whether its worth me giving it another shot…
Haha thanks Mikewinner! That cheered me up (even more than the bottle of wine I just drank). I’m just terrified I would put in the same amount of time and effort and come out with a band 10. Just happened to a colleague of mine and I saw how hard she worked. Devastating…
FYI i failed L1 once and L2 once too (not enough prep for both of them though). Last year i put all my energy in the prep as i thought it is my last step. i was out of FRM2 and was on a good track with an FRM1 pass L2 pass FRM2 pass then last step with CFA3 (which was the ultimate objective for me as i started FRM mostly to take back the habit of exams and because of the overlap with the CFA).
For the first attempt i spent c.450 hours and this year 350. My prep was much more effective because i literally planned everything. You will make it. give it a shot. 1st thing: take a well deserved rest for you and your family and come back after Xmas with all your plans made.
To spend more time with your significant ones next year try to wake up earlier if you can. (I woke up at 5:30 everyday) and use this time for ACTIVE exercise. I advise you to use commute time, down time … to listen videos and evening to do the active listening writing notes on my video slides. My main problem was what i call “zombie studying”. just reading passively materials and accumulating stress.
It will be much harder to motivate yourself after a year of rest. For now forget about it and enjoy your summer and come back stronger in 2018.
ps: also i added workout to my routine which helped a lot both for work and studying. you can do that at home too.
A last piece of advice. If you really want to be sure your AM is good, maybe asking third parties to grade them would be a good idea. Then you will make sure your answer format is good. I had to fund the program myself so i didn’t rely on it but if you can afford it I think it makes sense.
t looks like they changed quite a few of the readings this year though plus I answered all the questions in my schweser books by ringing the correct answer so I might need to buy new materials. Annoyingly, my work only covers half the cost of a retaken exam (no materials though) so I would have to shell out myself.
My other issue is that I booked a two week trip to Japan for the first half of April 2018, naively thinking I would not be retaking this exam after all the work I put in. It will be a holiday of a lifetime, but obviously at a crucial point in the studying calendar, and I hate the thought that I’d have to take my notes with me or have the guilty feeling that I should be studying instead of enjoying myself…
Urgh the thought of another year of this kills me! I was really hoping someone would say I wouldn’t need to do 600+ hours again, but that appears to be the case if I want to avoid the horror of a band 10…
t looks like they changed quite a few of the readings this year though plus I answered all the questions in my schweser books by ringing the correct answer so I might need to buy new materials. Annoyingly, my work only covers half the cost of a retaken exam (no materials though) so I would have to shell out myself.
Concerning the questions did you get perfect answers on Blue boxes, all EOCs and all CFAI online tests? If not i think this is already quite a lot and those are the main things you should focus on.
My other issue is that I booked a two week trip to Japan for the first half of April 2018, naively thinking I would not be retaking this exam after all the work I put in. It will be a holiday of a lifetime, but obviously at a crucial point in the studying calendar, and I hate the thought that I’d have to take my notes with me or have the guilty feeling that I should be studying instead of enjoying myself…
The trip is an excellent thing in fact as it will give you a break and an objective to be done with the curriculum end of March. FYI i took a 10 days vacation during the same period this year and simply did some questions i failed before early in the morning and some in the plane. It didn’t impact my vacation and got much more energy for the last part of my study. The last month is key to make it.
Urgh the thought of another year of this kills me! I was really hoping someone would say I wouldn’t need to do 600+ hours again, but that appears to be the case if I want to avoid the horror of a band 10…
You are band 9 so you master the curriculum. I really felt miserable last year and wanted to drop everything. You just need some rest now. Don’t touch CFA material till Dec.17/Jan 18. You certainly won’t need 600+ but you will need to spend more time on active exercise / past mocks / other mocks. Go quick with passive studying and dig into the exercise. It will be less time consuming and you will get more confidence too. This is why video format helped me as my passive studying was somehow timeboxed by the video length and I had much more time available for exercising.
S2000Magician aka Bill was my live professor for Level 2 when i studied with Wiley and i attended dozen of hours of course with him. Level 2 was a big challenge for me and the live courses really helped me to master the concepts in depth (i think even beyond the exam scope). Bill provides tutoring and is an active contributor here with many people referring to him as the MVP. Level 3 is not really about the material but how to approach correctly what the CFAI requests us through their own material. (and there is quite a lot already provided: Blue box/ EOCS/ CFAI Online / mocks) Getting advice from him is for sure a huge plus to get more motivation and make sure you are going through the right direction in your prep.
I have no affiliation with Bill / IFT or Wiley i mentioned here. Just presenting my experience though this long journey (started in 2008) and I hope it might help especially upcoming retakers that can feel desperate after all the hard work put into their preparation.
CFA was not only about the certification for me but a real challenge to better understand myself and implement more discipline into my life.
Thanks Tony - wow that was a LONG road from 2008 and Im so pleased it all worked out for you in the end. I am sure that I am academically capable of doing this but I guess for L3 life just got in the way and derailed me a bit. I made a impulsive decision to get married in mid February 2017 (after 15+ years with my partner and 2 kids). It all boiled down to an expiring visa situation with my husband’s father and it was one of those ‘now or never’ moments, which ultimately distracted me from the task in hand enough to fall short of a pass.
I’m not saying I regret getting married but the whole timing thing was not ideal and I naively thought I could still pull it off. Lesson learnt. Luckily I will not be planning a wedding for 2018, but I do have a 2 week trip to Japan booked in for first half of April which will need a bit of prep and will mean 2 weeks with zero study at a crucial time. Has anyone had a 2 week holiday in April and still made the grade? Please tell me its possible for a retaker?!
Life continues during the exam with its ups and down. Be proud you made it with 2 kids + the job. You are really close to pass and next year you should have less unplanned event. Congratulation for your marriage. This is much more important than this exam. Enjoy your vacation and plan to be done with the curriculum just before it. it is actualy a good time break.
Thanks Tony. Its nice to hear kind words from someone who understands what I am going through. Fingers crossed one more time can do it. I’m now definitely leaning towards a retake after everyones positive advice.
Excellent Katyusha! Also read about what happened to you at work. Be happy to have an understanding boss, a husband and 2 wonderful kids. This is what matters! You nailed L1 and L2 and had a major life decision this year and nonetheless were close to make it. Good luck!
If I had to do it again, I would not spend money on IFT. The videos were very difficult to follow. I would have only watched Marc (level Up) ( i did not) and went to his bootcamp (which I did). Glad its over for me. But that is my suggestion.
